Alice suppressed the urge to throw the elven girl a dirty look. She was no playmate, especially to someone like him. As Lucius worked she drew in small, steady breaths. It didn't hurt like she had thought, no, but it was uncomfortable and unnerving all the same. Every feather that fell away felt like she was loosing a part of herself; and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.
An icy breeze washed over her bare boned wings, drawing a harsh shudder from the Angel. "Humiliating." She retorted after his first statement. This was all horribly humiliating, and all this for simply listening in on something she never understood to begin with. Chills raced up her spine and down the skeleton of her wings at the mention of some being more permanent.
Not wanting to push the insane Unicorn any farther Alice said nothing. Keeping her eyes averted to the floor she hurried to hide her wings away. "Agh!" She cried out, pain like no other shooting through what used to be her wings, and back. Alice fell on one knee and grasped the floor for something she didn't know. Slowly she tried again only to be met with another flare of pain. Alice grit her teeth and huffed. She couldn't hide her wings away without her feathers.

Lucius wondered why she was freaking out so much. He'd only trimmed the feathers a little bit, and they were still there on her back, so she must have been having a random fit of dementia.
"Stop whining, I swear to Jehovah, it's like you've never even seen a bird's wings trimmed before!" he said, completely blase about the whole thing. "If your author take five seconds to actually look up wing trimmings, she'd see that only the tips of the feathers are snipped off! So can you please suck it up and let us all get back into character? My own author's gonna have my neck for breaking the fourth wall!" He then went to take a drink from his goblet, but ended up getting some down the wrong pipe, with a coughing fit to follow. Lucius could only raise his hands in anger. "SEE? He's got it out for me now!" he shouted, then took a deep breath. "Just show yourself out the door please, don't call us, we'll call you."

With his author's malice thoroughly sated, Lucius sat back down at the table, acting as if the past bit hadn't happened, but still sounding tired. "So... How's the war been treating you, Gwen? Not as a general, but as a person?"

"If your author take five seconds to actually look up wing trimmings, she'd see that only the tips of the feathers are snipped off! So can you please suck it up and let us all get back into character?"

Guin snorted. She could not help it, and fell over laughing, slapping her thighs in a struggle to breathe. "Shit... Lucius, you've got to stop doing stuff like that!" she wheezed, finally being able to sit up and breathe normally. "I hope your author knows what he's doing... Mine certainly doesn't." She shrugged momentarily, and brushed her hair off of her shoulders, as it had fallen out of the braid in the small struggle for life.

"So... How's the war been treating you, Gwen? Not as a general, but as a person?"

She pondered this for a moment. The truth is but a few words, a lie is but another life.

"Well, let's see... I'm going insane, as my father did for a while, probably toss myself off a cliff soon thinking it's the only way to win the war. Which, of course, would be entirely unbenificial and completely stupid." Guin took her hair, and split it into three strands, starting to braid it again.

"And you? I can only imagine it will be much easier for you, than me." She offered a friendly smile.

Lucius' face suddenly looked aged twenty years, and his relaxed position only made him look old and shriveled, despite his still youthful appearance.
"As a force of good working for the dark, quite well. As a unicorn with several wives, colts, and fillies running around, I'm afraid for this war to end. I've only known fighting and war since I was but a child myself, thanks to the bastard that set me on the path of the anti-hero, so what happens after the war? If we win, I'm set for life as good as a god, once I kill off our general and assume regency." As soon as he mentioned that, he made sure to tack on "I may be evil, but she's insane. Hell, the only reason I let her become general is because our army respects me, but fears her. It's the only way to get that many people working together efficiently. Point being, if our side wins and I let her live, she'd drag the world into a dark age, rather than a new renaissance, like our original intent has been ever since I joined. But if you win, my children would never be able to shake off their father's defeat. They'd be treated like dirt, and even if you issue some edict against their injury, there would always be people who would mistreat them, punishing them for their father's fallacies... Gwen? I'm going to tell you something I pray you NEVER use against me, for it will only make your death sweet for me. I don't fear my death... Never have... But I fear for my children's futures... and that's why I've kept fighting, conniving, and plotting to this day. They mean the world to me, more than any material object in this world.

"But I fear for my children's futures... and that's why I've kept fighting, conniving, and plotting to this day."
Guin froze. She felt the voice in her throat simply disappear, and stared, jaw agape.

She had no right to understand what Lucius could feel. She had no children of her own, besides the lap-harp sitting on her bed still.

Guin felt like she would never understand.

"...I... I'm not sure what to say." She said it plainly, casting her eyes towards the floor.

What is there to say? I can't imagine anything I would be able to form into words would help in any way.

She slowly moved from her sitting position into a kneeling position, pulling a dagger from under her corset, and placing it across her heart as she folded her fist around the hilt.

"I, Guinevere de Lilith a'Roihan, swear it upon you that your children will come to no harm." She took the blade, quickly slicing it across her wrist, and held it up to shower the floor with crimson droplets, all without moving her head. "He who does harm them, will face the blood consequences."

She would not see an innocent harmed for the crimes of their parents. Regardless of the means or the needs. Regardless of who that parent was.

Lucius smiled gently at her little oath, especially since he'd just pointed out that no edict could save them from the jeers of their fellows if he lost, and so had essentially sworn either her defeat or her own blood consequences. Of course, he knew it would be irrelevant, seeing as his children were of a large enough amount and of such varying ages that any of his eldest three children(among them one Lucius could feel would grow more powerful than he) alone could easily fend off anybody that was thrown at them. He'd made sure of that when they'd been fillies themselves. So, making sure his smile seemed properly small, Lucius nodded to her actions, his half-lidded eyes sparkling as he did so.
"Thank you. Your actions do you justice. Again, it's a shame we fight on separate sides." he said, raising his drink in the air before gulping it down, the poison of the alcohol being purified as it flowed down his throat, ending up as flavored water by the time it reached his stomach. He hated not being able to get drunk. It made celebrations feel that much more awkward.

"Thank you. Your actions do you justice. Again, it's a shame we fight on seperate sides."

Guin smiled weakly. "I cannot imagine what words will mean to you from the general of the other side... Whoever wins, I cannot imagine what will happen to your children. Know, though, as long as this war wages, I will not see them harmed." She waved around herself idly, and then tore a scrap of cloth off her skirt, tying it across her wrist to catch the blood.

Still not having children.

She grasped a goblet for herself, tipping her head back, and feeling the bubbles rush down her throat in a gentle cascade.

"To the Gods. May the best man win." She reached her glass forward, in a gesture of fairness, and a toast to Lucius.

yngve

Yngve was in a decided sullen mood.

Lucius was off gallivanting somewhere and in general being a useless commander, and he was the only one apart from her who ever did any semblance of paperwork. And even then it was hardly anything.

She hollered at one of the elite soldiers posted outside the empty-apart-from-herself meeting room.

"Hey you! Go bring me the Logistics Officer."
"Uh, general... we don't have a Logistics Officer."
"You're right, we don't have a Logistics Officer. Guess what. You just got a promotion. Get in here."

I suppose that happened when you fought your way to the top. It tended to leave quite a vacuum.
Maybe it was time to look around camp and dole out a few more promotions to anyone promising.

Alice narrowed her eyes and tossed a spiteful glare towards Lucius. "Well excuse me, but this is actually really uncomfortable. You insane unicorn..and tell your author to calm down. My author had the awful luck of misunderstanding. Feather trimming.." She muttered under her breath before following his advice and leaving the room, not wanting to be anyone near him. If there was one person she hated, any person at all, it was him.
As she left the room her mind skittered back to the woman she saw earlier on the roof. Who was she? She mused silently as she walked out, debating whether or not to go find her. She was the only person who didn't think she was a complete weakling or hated her. She didn't know her to begin with, which made it all the better.

Lucius drank to Gwen's offer, then blinked as his eyes flashed azure.
"Well, Gwen, I'd love to stick around for longer, but my Yngve's-trying-to-do-things-without-me sense is tingling, and so are the wards I put up whenever she tries promoting people without me. It was a pleasure meeting you off the battlefield, but I do hope you remember that I leave as an enemy, and nothing more. However, I WILL leave you a second gift past the fairy-apple, as thanks for your oath." As he spoke, Lucius pulled an ornate golden ring from his index finger and placed it into the palm of his hand. From there, he made a twisting movement with his other hand, pulling the metal into a new shape, stretching the ring until it was a necklace, with Lucius' family crest of two herons crossing their necks resting on a small medal on the chain. Lucius continued as he handed the jewelry to Gwen. "A gift not of tradition, but of my free choice. Give it a kiss if you ever need my help. You have one use, though. Take care, and may our final meeting be at crossed blades!" he smiled, then took two steps back and became a unicorn again, the sense of doom reappearing as he galloped towards the window and leapt, disappearing into the night with a puff of hellfire once again, his laughter the only thing left as it echoed in the hall.

Yngve had barely appointed the guard to Logistics when Lucius poked his head in, human-looking again. "Whatever she just promoted you for, Aloysius, don't start celebrating yet. The position?" he said, now entering with straight posture and jovial expression. The soldier relaxed, Lucius tended to have that effect on the soldiers of the army, who he took the time to know by their names and drink with them, as he'd been taught by the first General. It is one thing to rule and command with terror. It is another entirely to win your army's devotion.

"Sir, the General has promoted me to Logistics Officer." Lucius smiled at that.

"Perfect, we needed one of those. And I always tell you, sir is for the battlefield, call me anything but that here. I take it you haven't lost your knack for numbers, the way you always beat me at Nine Kings?" he said, his air of doom and despair actually making him seem like a beacon of light in the gloom with his tone and actions. Aloysius shook his head, letting his own posture relax a bit in Lucius' prescence.

"I'm sure this will be a bit easier than Nine Kings. At least I won't have to worry about you as an opponent. You're getting too good at that game, Luce. Also, I always wondered, how do you play if you're blind?" Lucius just smiled and waved a finger in the air.

"Come now, Aloysius, if I gave that away, it'd take all the fun out of you guessing! But we're being rude to the General. You get to work on that Logistics stuff, I'll talk with her." As the soldier walked off, Lucius turned to Yngve, his voice too saccharine for it to even think of sounding nice. "Yngve, what do you think you're doing? I spent six hours today going through soldiers for that position, ON TOP OF my usual work. You think I do less around here? I have over eight centuries on you in the forms and files department. I can do all my paperwork in time it take you to do five pages!" Lucius stopped himself, took a deep breath, and laughed, the warmth in his voice back. "I'm actually surprised you haven't made yourself a spell for organization and signing yet. Took me about an hour to make one, and I'm pretty sure it's saved me a century's worth of time! Also, before I forget and you ask where I was, tonight was my 1000th anniversary with Cecilia, you know her, green eyes, red hair, unicorn from the waist-down, and so I went to visit Gwen and mock her before I came back to spend the rest of the night off somewhere private with Cecilia. All in all, a pretty productive night, seeing as I found out I can teleport past their castle defenses. Pretty sure anyone else would die, though. Those wards are hell to break past, pun intended. Plus, they'll have to change castles now, meaning resources wasted and time spent doing things other than leading. Well, that was my night, how'd yours go?"

Delphine was relaxing against the wall, kicking her legs out, and looking up at Khasten. The winged steed was impatiently rubbing his hooves against the ground. She made a face, sticking out her tongue and looking back out across the balcony. "Laugh all you want. I'm still worried, Khas... I don't know where to go any more."

She heard someone walking, and looked up, trying to see who it was. "Who walks across these halls?"



"However, I WILL leave you a second gift past the fairy-apple, as thanks for your oath."

Guin stared idly at the necklace as he handed it to her. She held it in her palm, gracefully thumbing the emblem, before watching him ride away.

"...Thank you." I have one use. Best make that one good...but... When to use it? I forsee no circumstances.

She gently lifted it up, placing it around her neck, and looked around herself once more. It seemed that the halls had become much...emptier, with the disappearance of the unicorn. Guin shrugged, and sat down, not knowing what else to do.

SHadow had just sat there,eating and finishing his food. As the two spoke, he did keep an eye on the unicorn though, after all the unicorn in his book was still an enemy, and they would fight later on in battle. Shadow yawned slightly, as he leaned his cheek into the palm of his hands, staring idly at the other men who were drinking and laughing. Humans were always strange to him. he didn't know how one could laugh like they could in a situation such as this. Then again, it also what made Shadow want to fight for.

He quietly stood up, deciding o look for the general to finish up the topic of moving the castle, something he could do at night. He walked out of the dining hall, and opened the door to see the unicorn galloping off, and honestly he couldn't help but think how funny it would have been if it ran out toward the sunset. He looked at Guin holding an object, before deciding to speak out.

"I assume the unicorn was actually...interesting enough for you to talk too?" He asked, giving her a questioning stare. He still didn't like the idea of an enemy coming into a place where it was a stronghold. Even if it was tradition for the unicorn to do so.

Guinevere looked up at Shadow guiltily, trying to smile with a 'pull it off' attitude. "I assume the unicorn was actually...interesting enough for you to talk to?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I could never truly be a friend of his, but..." She sighed. "Let us not think of such fantasies. Lest we forget our true purpose." She floundered for a moment, but kept her grace, and stood up quickly. "I believe I will retire early tonight. The council may yet wait another day, as we are to decide whether we must truly move this castle." Guinevere sniffed. "Perhaps consultation of the magi is in need of."

She stood at that, curtseying softly to Shadow. "Thank you for accompanying me this night. May you find shade and rest this evening." She hurried out of the room afterwards, wanting to be out as soon as she could, to avoid looking at the wandering halls any longer.

Guinevere did not know what she wanted at that point. This always happened; something would change her mind, she would want something other than what she had, and would turn into the spoiled child of the general once more.

Stop. Stop it... Just... Go play your harp or something. Tears started to spill down her cheeks, for reasons she didn't know, and could only imagine.

Alice faltered in step and nearly fell over herself at the sound of a woman's voice. She darted her gaze around the hall until she settled on a balcony at the end of the hall. Trying again to hide away her wings, putting up with the pain that was no longer there, and she walked over to see the woman in better light. "I.." She quickly trailed off, uncertainty pulsing strong in her veins. Was she going to give some sort of punishment too for walking around in a hallway? "My name is Alice," She said with wary politeness. "Alice Casselle," Now standing just outside the moonlit balcony she ran her gaze over her and realized she was the woman she saw earlier from the rooftop. A small bit of relief melted away her uneasiness and she allowed herself to relax some. "Am I not to be roaming these halls?" She asked quietly, not wanting to get in trouble twice in one night. "And could explain what's going on here? Everything is so..." Alice fumbled for the right word and settled with, "odd."

Shadowcould easily see through her facade, after all it wasn't hard to tell when they make it so obvious. Though he chose to remain silent, and simply nod at the woman, and said "You as well...Please have a nice rest" With that, the girl had turned and walked off to what he assumed her room. He blinked before turning around, and opened a window. He quickly jumped out of it easily.

He landed silently on the grass, and stood up tall. He shuddered and in a moment he was back in his true form. He flapped his wings strongly and took flight, deciding to fly around to make himself tired as well. After all, he was quite bored now. He deicded only to fly circles around the castle, as it would be troublesome to fly far then come back.

"Am I not to be roaming these halls? And could someone explain what's going on here? Everything is so... odd."

Delphine smiled. Khasten, behind her, reared up and whinnied loudly against the night; she kicked behind herself - more so, fumbled awkwardly with her leg before she connected with the horse's foreleg in a push of force - and the Pegasus took off flying.

"What do you mean?" she asked, smiling, and folding her hands in front of herself. She was wearing a Tiager-patterned cloak, as Guin had been earlier, except it was shaded with wild green, reds, and yellows in a pattern of fall colors.

"Are you certain you are in the right place, my dear? This, here, is the castle of the general. Of the Free Peoples of Mysteria." She spoke bravely, and proudly. "Although I am but a simple footman, I can help you find your way out. Though... from the way you speak, it sounds as if you have already met our general."

Delphine paused, seeking the proper words. "Hm... Knife-eared, golden hair, bitchy attitude?"

The General could say all she wished, but after her thousand plus years, she knew a bitch when she smelled one.

Alice almost forgot about the woman standing in front of her as she turned towards the Pegasuses. They were such beautiful creatures, and though she's seen them more than a dozen times, she never tired of ogling at them. Much to her embarrassment after she came back to. She looked back at the woman in bemusement which quickly hinted towards fear. Was she going to kick her out of the castle?
Yes she knew there wasn't much of a point in staying, but she didn't know what else to do with herself. She was only allowed to stay in this region of the world unless she had permission to go off elsewhere. And she couldn't fly for the next few days..
Suddenly the woman's description of the general had her bursting out laughing which she hurried to cover behind her hand. "I couldn't say that," She said politely. Her face flushed in abashment at her outburst; it was rude of her. "But I suppose a little help back there wouldn't have hurt.." She trailed off on a thoughtful note before shaking her head slightly. "Pardon my asking, but who are you?" She asked suddenly, her eyes flitting over her attire. It looked very lovely on her, like she was a colorful tree in the forest. Although her beautiful features told her she was anything but a tree.

"I couldn't say that. But I suppose a little help back there wouldn't have hurt..."

Delphine snorted. Obviously, this one was new to Mysteria.

"Pardon my asking, but who are you?"

She looked at her with curiosity. "Well, certainly not one of those goddamn ents." She ended up snarling the words, and closed her eyes for a moment, letting her wings unfold. "And certainly not one of you. I'm the oldest of my Sisters, as it stands... One of the Valkyries."

Delphine, for a moment, was taken over by a rush of joy. "Dear angel, do you know where my sisters are? Where the allfather is? Please, please tell me you do!" She reached her hands forward, truly hoping that she could find her way home.

The only reason she had ever enlisted in the army was because she had no where else to go. In her eyes, it was either the army or a life of wandering; certainly, there needed to be a purpose to her existence, though she absolutely refused to fight upon the grounds of a life without an allfather. Rarely did she fight even then.

Alice blinked once in surprise before her gaze softened. "I'm terribly sorry," She murmured softly, clasping her hands in front of her as she spoke. "I don't believe I know where your sisters roam, but I do know where the allfather is." She amended lightly, hoping her words could serve as some sort of comfort. The Angel tilted her head to the side then, assessing the woman in front of her. Just who was she truly? She had a black Pegasuses..although that in itself didn't mean much.

"I don't believe I know where your sisters roam, but I do know where the allfather is."

Delphine fell to her knees, crying, happily leaning against the floor.

"It has been so long... Long for one who has been separated. I had never dreamed that I would see him again... Perhaps he will yet let me walk in the Havens."

Her voice shook slightly, but she lifted her hands, and wiped away some of the tears that were falling down her cheeks. Without realising it, she had summoned Khasten by her side, and he was standing behind her. Delphine scratched his nose, and smiled softly, looking back at Alice.

"Will you tell me where he is? Khasten can fly us there... And then, I will find my peace, and diminish into the West." She sighed, hearing the words uttered, and slowly stood up to meet her horse. He snorted, shaking his head, obviously upset by the idea of carrying two people; but not unwilling to do so.

Alice quickly knelt in front of her, reaching her hands out to comfort her before her words stopped her. "Please, do not cry." She murmured, her heart saddening at the sight of her tears - even if they were ones of joy. The light sound of wings beating against the night sky had her looking up to meet the gaze of the black Pegasuses. But she quickly broke eye contact at the woman's question. Her expression fell slightly in sympathy and again she felt the urge to reach out and comfort her.
"I'm sorry," She whispered for what felt like the umpteenth time that night. "I wouldn't be able to tell you where it is. But I could take you there myself," As she spoke she placed her hand below her ribcage, curling her hand over it. "it's in my instincts to know where it's located. But.." Her voice trailed off on a hesitant, disbelieving note. "I won't be able to go back for days. Lucius removed my flying feathers so I'm trapped here until they fully grow back." She explained quietly, her green, brown eyes apologetic.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you where it is. But I could take you there myself."

Delphine paused, about to say something, but looked up at Khasten with a sigh. "Oh, I am an old fool. I have yet excited myself.. Forgive me, dear angel, I have forgotten we speak of different people."

She started to pet his nose, and he leaned closer, kneeling down besides her. "Allow me to show you out. Unless, you have further needs with the general... I can assure you, should you wish to, there is room in the rankings of the army." Delphine smiled up at her, feeling her arms begin to shake, and she mentally reminded herself to never again get involved with something like this.

A lying tongue had bereft him of life, and all without reason of right.

Tentatively she reached her hand out again, pulled back, and finally rested it on her shoulder. "You are most certainly no old fool." She said gently, wondering in the back of her mind just how old she was. She spoke of the allfather, so she must have passed on. But why is it she's still here? Why can't she find her way on her own? And the utmost important question on her mind; just who was she?
Alice blinked once at her offer and cocked her head to the side. "You..would allow me into your rankings?" She asked slowly, wanting to understand that what she heard was correct. "Just what happened here? It's been far too long since I've visited this realm, and I haven't the faintest idea as to what has happened since my time." She explained lowly, concealing her discomfort of being so clueless.

"You...would allow me into your rankings? Just what happened here?"

Delphine snorted. She could not help herself; just where in the nine hells had this poor girl been?

"Look around yourself. What do you think happened here? A war. A war that's been going on for three hundred years, now. How could you have possibly missed that?"

Delphine, before waiting for a response, idly began to pick at some hairs that were sticking out on Khasten's mane. The white stallion had a mane of ore, and certainly kept it as such; it was horrid to the touch, very oily and messy, and no matter how many times Delphine tried to wash it, it would never change.

The Angel reminded herself of when she had missed her first battle.

The allfather had no words for her; it was simply impossible to speak. Her sisters only laughed, as she got knocked to the bottom of the commanding army; from standing close to the top, where her mother had aimed her at, to destroying everything that she had tried to earn Delphine.

It was all horrid to think of. The shame she had felt when she walked to the back of the Hall, the looks, the fabulous mount she was once going to have - ...except, he stayed with me. Delphine did not believe how Khasten could have chosen her. He could have flown with the highest, instead, he chose the weakest.

Whatever his reasoning she could only thank him bravely, and bully him when she could. An eye for an eye. She shrugged, and pulled a stray fly off of his neck. He looked at her, snorting, but she only smiled back.